Port of Call
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: They had travelled 60,000 light years for the good of all mankind. Still, even within the UED Expeditionary Fleet, there were some disagreements as to what that actually meant.


**Port of Call**

 **WELCOME TO PORT ALEKSANDER**

Lieutenant Rosa Morales of the United Earth Directorate took a moment to stare at the battered billboard up above her. It had a few bullet holes. It was welcoming her to a port that didn't look particularly welcoming, given the ruined spires and burnt-out vehicles that littered its streets. That wasn't even touching on the human and zerg bodies that littered the cityscape, all of them in various stages of decay (though given the history of this planet, perhaps not so various). She didn't know much about Port Aleksander, any more than she really knew of the history of any of Tarsonis's cities. But as she and her squad marched down the road alongside their MBT, she couldn't help but marvel at it.

"Lieutenant?"

She looked at Captain Burke. He and the rest of the smiths were further up in the line, while she was lagging behind.

"You joining us?"

"Sir, yes Sir." She picked up her pace. Enough to catch up with the squad, not enough to outpace the captain. She knew her place.

"Anything you want to tell me lieutenant?"

She shook her head.

"Don't bullshit me."

Part of her knowing her place was knowing when not to, quote, "bullshit" Captain Burke. So, in the spirit of non-bullshit, she answered truthfully.

"Just admiring the sign Sir."

Burke rose his visor. "The sign?"

"Yeah, the sign. The whole 'Welcome to Port Aleksander' billboard."

"You flew sixty-thousand light years to admire a _sign_?"

"No Sir, just…just thinking."

"About what?"

"That it's kind of remarkable isn't it?" she said, letting her enthusiasm get the better of her. "I mean, here we are, on the capital world of the old Terran Confederacy. And, like, I can read it still, y'know? Over two centuries of separation from Earth, but the English language has still remained the same, or at least still readable. And that's not even touching on the preservation of languages the UPL banned in the twenty-third century and…" She trailed off. Burke was smiling, and not in a good way.

"Oh Lieutenant," he said, the smile turning into a shark-like smirk. "Never change."

She frowned. "I'm just saying-"

"You think I care about the language of a bunch of space savages?" He gave Morales a pat on the shoulder that, thanks to his power armour, felt like a weight had dropped on it. "These people are criminals Morales. That they somehow remained literate doesn't change our mission."

The mission. Burke was always going on about "the mission," she reflected. Technically it was the same mission she was on – to unify humanity, and neutralize any alien threat towards humanity. Difference was, she was more invested in the latter. Burke? Based on what she'd seen and heard, he skewed more towards the former.

The squad kept moving on. Morales knew that about a hundred klicks from here, a strike force was converging on some kind of old Confederate device – something about the zerg and controlling them, or somesuch. She didn't know the details – her rank wasn't high enough for that. All she knew was that the majority of the UED Expeditionary Fleet was located outside the Tarsonis system, mustering for an assault on Korhal. By all rights, she should have been with them. Still, the _Danvers_ , a dropship, had suffered a system failure on the way down to the landing site and had ended up in this city. It wasn't responding to hails, and so, Burke had been assigned a squad to investigate it. Ten smiths plus a Lion-class main battle tank.

She supposed she should be flattered, that the squad had been afforded some Earth tech rather than what the men and women of the fleet were calling "K-tech." Koprulu tech. "Terran tech." Tech that they'd appropriated as their own from sites like Braxis and the Dylarian Shipyards, and while effective to some extent, paled to the tech within UED space.

"Alright," Burke said. The smiths came to a halt, Morales included. They watched a hologram be generated from his suit's palm, generating a topographic map of the city. "Best guess is that the _Danvers_ is about two blocks from here." He looked at one of the smiths. "Any response to hails?"

"No Sir."

"Hmm. Can't rule out foul play, so keep your rifles ready." He looked at Morales. "Or pistol in your case."

"I can handle myself Sir."

"Yeah, that's what she said." Burke generated the smirk again. "Okay, move out."

 _Go rot in hell you son of a bitch._

Burke was an arse. A sexist, misogynist arse. Not that anyone was going to care about that, Morales reflected. No-one seemed to mind about the rumours of his excesses on Braxis, why the hell would they care about a potty mouth? Especially since-

 _Oh._

The _Danvers_ was up in front of them. And it was a mess.

Morales was a medic. She wasn't one of those doctors who kept insisting they were doctors and not anything else, and she certainly wasn't an engineer…or anything else. But she knew the sight of a lost cause when she saw one. The ship had smashed into slag. Fire had left its hull a charred husk, along with the blackened bodies of those within it. To her side, she saw one of the smiths look away, lean down, and begin to retch.

"Bloody hell," Burke whispered.

Hell's fury apparently extended across the galaxy, Morales reflected. The squad slowly made their way towards the wreckage.

"Assessment?" Burke asked.

Morales looked at him. "They're all dead, and they died horribly?"

Burke said nothing. For the first time in a long time, Morales saw something approach humility.

"Alright," he said eventually. "Gibson, take a look at the craft, see if you can get a hint of what went wrong. Dinesh, radio the _Aleksander_. Gonna need a retrieval detail. Rest of you, keep your eyes open."

A chorus of "yes sirs" echoed throughout the squad. Morales for her part remained silent. She was a medic. She couldn't do anything for the dead, and so far, none of the living required her aid. So right now, all she could do was to just stare at the ruined cityscape. Past the tombstones that had once been building. Past the works of Man, laid low by the Swarm.

 _I wonder how many people lived here?_

She could only guess. The UED couldn't be sure how many people had lived on Tarsonis when the zerg came, but their estimates were in the range of at least a billion. It was a figure that had been repeated over and over again as the Council reiterated the need to send a force into the Koprulu sector. To nip the zerg in the bud before their plans to invade Earth were completed.

Morales had volunteered automatically – what the zerg had done to worlds like Tarsonis, she couldn't ever let that happen to Earth. And yet, standing here on this alien world, thoughts of Earth were starting to feel very distant. People had lived here. Dreamed here. Loved here. People in this city, and in cities all over Tarsonis, would have woken up one day to find their world aflame.

"Sir?"

She sat down on a piece of rubble. It was hard to comprehend. Harder still to imagine that very soon, the UED would be moving on Char, after bringing the Dominion into the fold.

"What is it?"

She looked at Burke, in the midst of talking with Corporal Gibson. The NCO was holding what looked like a weapons crate.

"This Sir."

"I know what a weapons crate looks like you idiot."

Gibson opened it. "It's been emptied."

Morales got to her feet. The smiths all turned.

"Emptied?" Burke asked.

"Emptied. Or looted, more likely."

Morales saw the smiths tighten their grips on their rifles. It was slight, but it was there. She walked over.

"Sir, if there's people here-"

"Then they have to be brought to justice," Burke said.

She blinked. "Actually, I was thinking of helping-"

"Gibson, you have the site. Morales, Finch, Poldark, you're with me."

For their part, the smiths didn't have any objections.

"Something wrong Lieutenant?"

As for her…

"Well?"

"Sir," she began. "I can't help but ask if you're going about this the wrong way."

"The wrong way?"

"If there's people here, they didn't down the ship."

"But they looted it."

"And? They've probably been here for months. I mean, shouldn't we help them?"

"We get the weapons first, then we help them." Burke disengaged his rifle's safety. "Come on then."

"Come on…where, exactly?" she asked.

Burke smirked. "I know the way."

She didn't respond. Burke was her captain. She had to follow his orders. Had to follow him. Thing was, from what she'd read, Captain Burke did have a knack for this. Latent psychic potential, pure instinct, Lady Luck…whatever the case, he got results. So she and the other smiths followed him.

"There."

It didn't take him long to find the first sign. At his cue, Morales and the smiths activated their visors' infra-red mode.

"Up ahead."

In one of the buildings, Morales could make out the targets. Three bodies – two sitting, one lying down. And around them all, a crackling fire.

"There's people here," she whispered.

"Good for them," Burke grunted. He looked at the smiths. "You two stay here. Morales, you're with me."

"Why? They'll need a medic when you're through with them?"

"Something like that."

She frowned – it was meant to be a joke.

Slowly, the two soldiers made their way up the pile of rubble. Part of the building's ground floor had been blasted wide open. Still, silently as they could, they made their way into the lobby. There were no signs of life. Nothing but what their visors told them in one of the rooms beyond reception.

 _Kinda like back home. Except the whole blasted into oblivion thing._

She looked at Burke. He raised his rifle and took point. Gingerly, they made their way through the lobby.

 _There's no bodies here. Zerg, human, nothing._

Did that mean anything? She didn't ask. Burke wouldn't care. The universe wouldn't care. And if the people they were tracking cared-

"Hands up!"

She was past asking. The two warriors of Earth burst into the next room, a rifle and a pistol pointed at its denizens.

 _Oh hell._

The two that Burke was pointing his rifle at were children. Children in their mid to late teens, sure, but children by her standards. One a boy, one a girl, possibly siblings given their similar appearance. The third was a man closer to her age, lying belly first on a mattress. Breathing heavily.

"The fekk are you?" one of them asked.

"Never mind who I am," Burke said. He nodded towards the pile of guns in the corner. "Where'd you get those?"

"What's it to you?" the girl asked.

 _You're terrified, aren't you?_ Morales thought. She could see right past their bravado.

"What's it to me is that a ship of ours came down, and we discovered that its weapons cache was missing."

"That ship," the boy said. "You…you here to rescue us?" He took a step forward. Burke put his gun in his face.

"What I'm here to do is get my weapons back. What happens after that…"

"Girik, no," said the girl. "We can't trust them."

"Quite right, you can't," said Burke. "But that aside, we-"

"Sir," Morales said.

Their eyes met for a moment – as long as was needed for them to get an understanding. Burke walked over to the weapons cache, while Morales kept her eyes on the two kids.

"You a medic?" the boy asked.

"I…Girik, is it?" Morales smiled. "Yes, I'm a medic." She looked over at the man in the corner. "Looks like your dad isn't doing too good."

"Our dad?" The girl asked. "He isn't our dad."

"Oh. Where is your dad then?"

"He's…he's with mum."

"And where's…" Morales trailed off. The look in their eyes, the way the girl put a hand to her mouth, the way Girik put a hand on his sister's shoulder…she knew exactly where their parents were.

"I'm sorry," she said. She knelt down at the man. "And who's this?"

"Mister Snow," the girl said. "Our neighbour. He…he and the others kept us safe."

"Others?"

"Twenty or so," Girik said. "Since the invasion. But since then…"

Morales understood. Why there were no bodies. Chances were there was a makeshift graveyard somewhere.

"Anyway," she said. "Let's just take a look at…oh."

As she'd lifted up his shirt, she'd expected to see a zerg-like wound. A claw, teeth marks, anything like that. But it wasn't. It was a bullet wound, and a deep one at that. It had entered through his upper-right back, and had penetrated deep.

"Who did this?" Morales asked.

"The others," the girl whispered.

"The others?"

"The others," Girik said. "The…pillagers. Raiders. Like…y'know what the zerg are like, right? I mean, some people went mad. Or thought they could come up on top. Like…like…"

"Dog eat dog, cat eat cat." All eyes turned to Burke. "Like I said, space convicts and criminals."

"What?" the girl asked.

"Listen, you-"

"We're from Earth," Morales said. She figured she'd better explain it rather than Burke.

"Earth?" Girik asked.

"Earth," she said.

"Boscrap," the girl whispered. "Absolute boscrap."

"I know it's hard to believe, but, we are," Morales said. "And…we're here to help you." She put a hand on each of their shoulders. "We've got a ship in orbit. The _Aleksander_. Like the name of your town. It…well, you'll be safe there." She looked at Mister Snow. "All of you."

* * *

Only two dropships were required to carry up the survivors. Girik, Mister Snow, and Sarada. Them, plus the smiths, plus the bodies of the dead.

"Morales, you're holding us up!"

That she was, she reflected, as she stood amongst the ruins of Tarsonian civilization. There was nothing for the fleet here. The Psi-whatever was on its way to be destroyed. All forces were being recalled to the _Aleksander_. The fleet was ready to move on Korhal.

"Morales!"

She looked at Burke as he walked over to her. His helmet was off, and his face was the colour of the setting sun – red.

"Morales, are you listening?"

She turned away and looked back at the ruins. "This is bullshit," she whispered.

"What?"

"This," she said. "There's God knows how many people left on this planet, and we're leaving them to fend for themselves."

"And?" Burke asked.

"And I was under the impression that we'd come to the sector for the good of humanity."

"The 'good of humanity' is whatever the admiral says it is. Right now, that means headed for Korhal."

"To do what?" she snapped. She turned and faced Burke. "Go on, tell me. How does invading another world help humanity?"

"By deposing Emperor Mengsk, establishing UED rule over the sector, and uniting humanity. By which we'll be able to turn our attention to the matter of the zerg and protoss."

"And are those your words?"

"Oh, you want to hear words? Well, here's some. Few days from now you'll be on Korhal. And then you'll see what kind of space savages we're dealing with." He paused. "Now come on. You want to tend to your pets, you'll have to come spaceside."

Morales didn't say anything. Nevertheless she followed her captain. Up into the dropship.

Up into the tortured sky.

* * *

 _A/N_

 _The idea for this came from the Port Aleksander multiplayer map. Since Port Aleksander is located on Tarsonis, and the_ Aleksander _was above Tarsonis during the Brood War, I was left to ask whether any UED member noticed "hey, there's a city down there that has our ship's namesake."_

 _Probably not, since they were only there for the Psi Disrupter, but anyway, drabbled this up._


End file.
